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Food Mindfulness

Welcome to the July Carnival of Natural Parenting: Let’s Talk About Food

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have written about their struggles and successes with healthy eating. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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What you get out is only as good as what you put in.

I’m not sure where I first heard this phrase, and I’m virtually certain that when I heard it the person wasn’t talking specifically about our bodies or the food we put into them. Regardless of the intended subject, the message I took home stuck.

Our bodies work using the fuel we provide. Junk in, junk out.

This is the basic idea that guides the food choices I make for myself and for my family. It’s just a basic mindfulness that I carry with me as I walk the aisles, in-real-life or virtually, shopping for the food we eat.

To provide my body, and the body of my family, with optimum fuel we’ve developed a plan that works, though costs a bit more than some (including me) would like.

Produce – This is the cornerstone of our diet. We’ve gone for convenience, here, without sacrificing our other ideals. A local company, Fresh Picks, does deliveries of organic, as local as possible, produce throughout the year. We pay $50 a week for a box filled with fruit and a box filled with vegetables. It is a lot of produce to consume in a week, but that’s the way we like it.

(The weekly veggie load)

Bulk Goods – We do a large grocery trip once a month or so and spend anywhere between $150-$250. We buy almost exclusively pantry staples on these trips – flours, cereals, beans, pastas, canned tomatoes, etc. These are the elements of food that allow me to create meals, instead of just salads, from the produce that is delivered.

Meat and Eggs – We are part of a CSA (community supported agriculture) called Grass is Greener Farms. We split the small share with another family. Our cost ends up being about $42 a month and that is enough to have about one or two meat meals a week. Adequate, without being too much.

Milk – We also get our milk through Fresh Picks. The milk comes from a local-ish dairy, Sassy Cow Creamery. We aren’t big milk drinkers, I use most of it to make yogurt. We spend about $7 a week on milk.

So that’s where our food comes from, mostly. While the cost is high(er) than average, the system we have works, for now. Our diet is focused on the fresh ingredients we get delivered each week and I spend less time shopping for food and more time making food to share with my family. Good stuff goes in and good stuff definitely comes out.

A Locavore’s Family Meal — Acacia at Be Present Mama tells a story in pictures of her family taking a trip to the local organic farmers market and then preparing a summer meal together with their bounty.

Why I Love The Real Food Community — Much like many people who follow AP/NP values, Melodie at Breastfeeding Moms Unite! takes the parts of the “real food” philosophy that work for her family and leaves the rest. (@bfmom)

This Mom’s Food Journey — Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment made a journey from not paying attention to food to growing her own.

Who Knew Eating Was So Hard? — The challenges involved in changing to healthier eating habits take on a whole new dimension when you have a child who has difficulties eating. kadiera at Our Little Acorn shares her own experiences. (@kadiera)

Loving Food — Starr at Earth Mama truly believes food is her family’s medicine and is willing to spend days preparing it the traditional way.

What you get out is only as good as what you put in. Amen. Intentional eating is something I’ve struggled with, but I’m working on it, thanks to my desire to teach my children to choose the right kind of fuel.

I love how specific you are here, because it gives me something to grasp as we plan our own food budget. I think it’s marvelous you have chosen to get so much delivered, and that it’s the healthy, local stuff. I had sticker shock when we first decided to go organic and local, but I’ve reconciled myself to spending more on food. As you said, if you put good things in, you’ll get good things in return, so it’s worth it. Thank you!

I totally agree! We also get a veggie/fruit box delivered and it’s always exciting to see what we can create with that week’s stuff I love the idea of shopping for meat that way. I am going to look into that in my area. Thanks

I think I took a picture of the same delivery! Where do you buy your bulk items? I’d also love to hear your thoughts on going can-free? I’ve contemplated just canning a whole bunch of tomatoes to use through the winter months, and thus avoid any potential leeching from traditionally-canned goods (the aluminum has a coating on it to help keep the contents fresh and some studies have shown it can leech into the food).